~and tit for tat...
Aug. 8th, 2002 03:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkathis is difficult for me, and i don't know why i feel i need to say anything. but maybe this is, as usual, just to figure out what i really think. this is brought about by `armchair slash' featuring the weather series, plus coming across this post re: child abuse. sigh. i feel, as i've mentioned here before, uncomfortable with being uncomfortable with anything in fiction. as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
penelope_z so rightly mentioned, fiction is fiction. life experience is meant to be written about, and it doesn't have to be lived through first, to be valid. fiction is meant to explore possibilities, and alter personal realities of people who never realized another reality was possible (hopefully). fantasy as a genre has much to do with writing about things that don't have their root in personal experience. and i love and live and breathe fantasy. so, that said....
the weather series is, undeniably, brilliantly written. the format makes me uncomfortable, as far as-- i hate the distancing effect, the sort of blindness i feel-- i feel like my vision is gone, for some reason, reading that, and it's very disturbing, because when i read i rely on my visual imagination a lot, it's instinctual. always has been. but i think on top of that, what really bothers me is the power play, the love stemming from such heartlessness and/or shallowness. in fact, the shallowness effect is hard to avoid since you don't get the insight into characters' feelings and motivations, and just get the raw "feed" so to speak, and it's chilling. i couldn't fall in love with that draco-- i didn't know what was up with him, and i didn't really want to know. the story sort of kind of relies on us already loving draco, knowing harry.
i also get this feeling, somewhat, reading jkr. she also doesn't go about explaining the secret life of anyone but harry, and even that, not much. it's disconcerting. this probably dooms any possible career i might have ever had, being a reporter.
so yeah, i don't enjoy rape/torture/non-con fics. rape, if it's complete porn and you care -nothing- for the characters (if you can call them that, they're really walking sex objects), can be tittilating. rough sex taken a level up. i do like aggressiveness, even power-struggle, in fiction, in fact i thoroughly enjoy it. all the fics (there are 2 or 3 good ones i remember off the top of my head) that involve sexual overtones within physical fighting (harry/draco & quidditch fields=yummmm), are so sexy i'm beside myself. i heart fighting smut :>
but i don't feel the same about dominance/submission smut. there's that resentment that i can't help feeling on behalf of the one being dominated. as i read, usually, i inevitably end up identifying with some character. that's what ruins it for me. i want to -like- a character if i'm going to like the story. if i think one's a wuss and the other a bastard, i'm not going to go for it. now, my definition of "wuss" and "bastard" isn't all that hard-core. i mean, i like draco (at all, even). plenty of people don't-- he's too much of a bastard to them. and i don't enjoy having him made "palatable" in fanfic, at -all-, anyone who's read my commentary knows that. so. i adore badass, mean, sneering!draco. but. while i don't believe in "evil", and darkness, is just a part of every good character-- extreme forays into EITHER Goodness or Evil, squick me.
to me, weather-of-the-heart!draco is, if not evil, just not very likeable. i start off not liking him, or harry for not knocking him out and casting 37 hexes on him, and i never get to know his heart well enough to like him, later. i don't remember ever liking any sadistic!draco i've ever met. sure, mean and horrid and sarcastic and... anything, as long as he's not allowed to be, as long as he's being -fought-, as long as it's an even fight, as long as he gets his nose bloodied. you see?? with -abuse- there's an element of -success-. he's not just acting like who he is-- he's -succeeding-. he's succeeded at dominating harry. he WON. that's not tittilating, that's just really really sad. i don't want harry to be dominated-- i like harry too much-- that's why i wouldn't want -draco- to be dominated, either. this probably also explains why i don't ship harry/snape. can snape help dominating harry, realistically? harry's not -that- mature, and it doesn't matter, anyway, because snape doesn't seem to see much of anyone as his equal. while i don't see it as a non-con scenario, or direct power-abuse... because actually, i believe that for snape to ever do it, he'd be relinquishing some control, not gaining it. but yah. unequality isn't romantic, or all that sexy, to me. ok, at all sexy, though as i said the -struggle- for power can be sexy, just not the actual permanent imbalance of it.
so. i don't have a problem with those fics existing, i just don't enjoy them, personally. so in the end, i've just rambled on, and wound up completely agreeing withpenelope_z and thus being un-original. heh. oh well. win some, lose some ;p
now, on todahlia_777's fic, which is a prime example of good ole fashioned brawling!sex, hehehehee
P.S. ~~er... *points*.... [irinaauthor]<-- freaky. that is....freaky. *shivers* freeeeeaky. it's not that i'm the only one in the world who gets to be...er.... named what i am. i can only imagine how jennifers and marys and even candys feel, heh. but. oh my GOD, that is so freaky..! i'm like, tempted to add her as a friend, just to freak myself out. heh. usually irinas are a) too russian-ghetto to be into -anything- i am; b) in russia, so i'm safe; c) ice-skaters (*snickers*). but like, she likes art, speaks normal english, and likes harry potter, and gets mentioned by epicyclical??! that is so -freaky- i can't begin to tell you. yes, my hold on my identity is thin and ragged, why do you ask? ;p
um. russian people are so freaky! [new word of the day, apparently.] um. that's all. and i mean FREAKY, man. freak, freak, freaky. aaargh. yes, i do have issues, why, is it obvious? :>
P.S.~~ *after glancing at draco veritas, again, and scurrying off in fear* pre-slash, is an evil, evil thing i tell you. just the very -idea- of a good, great writer, shipping -both- harry/herm and harry/draco gives me the willies. aaaaack, it's armageddon....! two opposing worlds have collided and are living peacefully together...! :) (what's next? rush limbaugh doing the funky tango with daria?) hee. ok i'll tell y'all a secret. i love the draco trilogy, every time i manage to read a paragraph or two without running away, screaming. i just can't read it. i can't. i can't. it explodes my brain. i love her writing but it's... HET, it's hetit'shetit'shetit'shet... aaaaaaargh. you can understand, can't you? my puny little mind can't handle it :)
P.P.S. ~~making me cry over pre-slash is just, completely unacceptable ;p .... you know..... i've invested like, hours, reading several fics where draco was dying or dead at some point. i actually -read- them, completely. and it just pissed me off, that they had such a lame plot device. but. i jump in the middle of this. and it KILLS me, what she's doing to them. ack. :( that's the saddest pic of them i've ever seen. it just makes me want to write a zillion different ficlets where they hug and hug and hug.
btw, i so love this post on the "HP for Grownups" list referred by cassandra claire on a thread at fiction alley as to why draco sucks (heh). the post was just brilliant, because it's like, the first place i've seen someone make an intelligent commentary on just how -stupid- draco is (or acts like he is). "Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame". yes! hee. that's why i included that question on my draco questionnaire. i don't know if -he- knows how stupid he acts a lot of the time, but i'd prefer it if he was intelligent enough to know when he can't help being a moron, but at least he knows he's doing what he'd be better off, not.
``Strategically and politically speaking, he is a moron."
heh. so, so true. so really, calculating and powerful draco are ooc (to me). but i love him because he's -arrogant- not because he's -competent-. it's cute that he's a loser. that's why i loved "butter and pigtails"-- in my favorite stories, draco is a bit more under-the-weather than usual, even. my god, that's why i loveeleveninches' stories. hee, the whole "woke up in a different universe and now potter likes me, aaaaaaargh" shtick is priceless, -because- he's already so clueless. ahem. but anyway.....
penelope_z so rightly mentioned, fiction is fiction. life experience is meant to be written about, and it doesn't have to be lived through first, to be valid. fiction is meant to explore possibilities, and alter personal realities of people who never realized another reality was possible (hopefully). fantasy as a genre has much to do with writing about things that don't have their root in personal experience. and i love and live and breathe fantasy. so, that said....the weather series is, undeniably, brilliantly written. the format makes me uncomfortable, as far as-- i hate the distancing effect, the sort of blindness i feel-- i feel like my vision is gone, for some reason, reading that, and it's very disturbing, because when i read i rely on my visual imagination a lot, it's instinctual. always has been. but i think on top of that, what really bothers me is the power play, the love stemming from such heartlessness and/or shallowness. in fact, the shallowness effect is hard to avoid since you don't get the insight into characters' feelings and motivations, and just get the raw "feed" so to speak, and it's chilling. i couldn't fall in love with that draco-- i didn't know what was up with him, and i didn't really want to know. the story sort of kind of relies on us already loving draco, knowing harry.
i also get this feeling, somewhat, reading jkr. she also doesn't go about explaining the secret life of anyone but harry, and even that, not much. it's disconcerting. this probably dooms any possible career i might have ever had, being a reporter.
so yeah, i don't enjoy rape/torture/non-con fics. rape, if it's complete porn and you care -nothing- for the characters (if you can call them that, they're really walking sex objects), can be tittilating. rough sex taken a level up. i do like aggressiveness, even power-struggle, in fiction, in fact i thoroughly enjoy it. all the fics (there are 2 or 3 good ones i remember off the top of my head) that involve sexual overtones within physical fighting (harry/draco & quidditch fields=yummmm), are so sexy i'm beside myself. i heart fighting smut :>
but i don't feel the same about dominance/submission smut. there's that resentment that i can't help feeling on behalf of the one being dominated. as i read, usually, i inevitably end up identifying with some character. that's what ruins it for me. i want to -like- a character if i'm going to like the story. if i think one's a wuss and the other a bastard, i'm not going to go for it. now, my definition of "wuss" and "bastard" isn't all that hard-core. i mean, i like draco (at all, even). plenty of people don't-- he's too much of a bastard to them. and i don't enjoy having him made "palatable" in fanfic, at -all-, anyone who's read my commentary knows that. so. i adore badass, mean, sneering!draco. but. while i don't believe in "evil", and darkness, is just a part of every good character-- extreme forays into EITHER Goodness or Evil, squick me.
to me, weather-of-the-heart!draco is, if not evil, just not very likeable. i start off not liking him, or harry for not knocking him out and casting 37 hexes on him, and i never get to know his heart well enough to like him, later. i don't remember ever liking any sadistic!draco i've ever met. sure, mean and horrid and sarcastic and... anything, as long as he's not allowed to be, as long as he's being -fought-, as long as it's an even fight, as long as he gets his nose bloodied. you see?? with -abuse- there's an element of -success-. he's not just acting like who he is-- he's -succeeding-. he's succeeded at dominating harry. he WON. that's not tittilating, that's just really really sad. i don't want harry to be dominated-- i like harry too much-- that's why i wouldn't want -draco- to be dominated, either. this probably also explains why i don't ship harry/snape. can snape help dominating harry, realistically? harry's not -that- mature, and it doesn't matter, anyway, because snape doesn't seem to see much of anyone as his equal. while i don't see it as a non-con scenario, or direct power-abuse... because actually, i believe that for snape to ever do it, he'd be relinquishing some control, not gaining it. but yah. unequality isn't romantic, or all that sexy, to me. ok, at all sexy, though as i said the -struggle- for power can be sexy, just not the actual permanent imbalance of it.
so. i don't have a problem with those fics existing, i just don't enjoy them, personally. so in the end, i've just rambled on, and wound up completely agreeing with
penelope_z and thus being un-original. heh. oh well. win some, lose some ;pnow, on to
dahlia_777's fic, which is a prime example of good ole fashioned brawling!sex, heheheheeP.S. ~~er... *points*.... [
irinaauthor]<-- freaky. that is....freaky. *shivers* freeeeeaky. it's not that i'm the only one in the world who gets to be...er.... named what i am. i can only imagine how jennifers and marys and even candys feel, heh. but. oh my GOD, that is so freaky..! i'm like, tempted to add her as a friend, just to freak myself out. heh. usually irinas are a) too russian-ghetto to be into -anything- i am; b) in russia, so i'm safe; c) ice-skaters (*snickers*). but like, she likes art, speaks normal english, and likes harry potter, and gets mentioned by epicyclical??! that is so -freaky- i can't begin to tell you. yes, my hold on my identity is thin and ragged, why do you ask? ;p um. russian people are so freaky! [new word of the day, apparently.] um. that's all. and i mean FREAKY, man. freak, freak, freaky. aaargh. yes, i do have issues, why, is it obvious? :>
P.S.~~ *after glancing at draco veritas, again, and scurrying off in fear* pre-slash, is an evil, evil thing i tell you. just the very -idea- of a good, great writer, shipping -both- harry/herm and harry/draco gives me the willies. aaaaack, it's armageddon....! two opposing worlds have collided and are living peacefully together...! :) (what's next? rush limbaugh doing the funky tango with daria?) hee. ok i'll tell y'all a secret. i love the draco trilogy, every time i manage to read a paragraph or two without running away, screaming. i just can't read it. i can't. i can't. it explodes my brain. i love her writing but it's... HET, it's hetit'shetit'shetit'shet... aaaaaaargh. you can understand, can't you? my puny little mind can't handle it :)
P.P.S. ~~making me cry over pre-slash is just, completely unacceptable ;p .... you know..... i've invested like, hours, reading several fics where draco was dying or dead at some point. i actually -read- them, completely. and it just pissed me off, that they had such a lame plot device. but. i jump in the middle of this. and it KILLS me, what she's doing to them. ack. :( that's the saddest pic of them i've ever seen. it just makes me want to write a zillion different ficlets where they hug and hug and hug.
btw, i so love this post on the "HP for Grownups" list referred by cassandra claire on a thread at fiction alley as to why draco sucks (heh). the post was just brilliant, because it's like, the first place i've seen someone make an intelligent commentary on just how -stupid- draco is (or acts like he is). "Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame". yes! hee. that's why i included that question on my draco questionnaire. i don't know if -he- knows how stupid he acts a lot of the time, but i'd prefer it if he was intelligent enough to know when he can't help being a moron, but at least he knows he's doing what he'd be better off, not.
``Strategically and politically speaking, he is a moron."
heh. so, so true. so really, calculating and powerful draco are ooc (to me). but i love him because he's -arrogant- not because he's -competent-. it's cute that he's a loser. that's why i loved "butter and pigtails"-- in my favorite stories, draco is a bit more under-the-weather than usual, even. my god, that's why i love
eleveninches' stories. hee, the whole "woke up in a different universe and now potter likes me, aaaaaaargh" shtick is priceless, -because- he's already so clueless. ahem. but anyway.....
